Birddog lives...

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I know, it even surprises me. You'd think the 3rd time a 10 year old server disappered from the network, it would be down for the count. Nope, it was just lost. I think it had gone blind for a while and when it could see again it didn't know where it was. Well I've pointed it in the right direction and now it's all better. Least until next time. He now had a buddy, Tornado, just in case he get's lost again. Maybe Tornado will be helpfull in regaining contact. 

Gotta know when to throw in the towel...

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I was supposed to be flying Brandt to his Mom's this weekend. It's a really nice flight through some interesting airspace and is always a good learning experience. This time it looks as if I'm going to have to cancel. Too many things starting to line up against us.

For starters big storms coming in late Sat, early Sun. I'm fine with dogding pop up storms here and there but I don't really need to be anywhere near big storms. Second is the wind. I'm fairly capible of dealing with winds. Flying in Texas you kind of have to be. I've seen forcast for gust in the Altus area from anywhere between 35 and 45 MPH. In an 1800lbs airplane with a lot of surface area I think I'll steer clear of 45MPH winds. We have to be up there at a very specific time. No problem, but the Moon is not cooperating with allowing us to fly at night. Moonset is at like 2pm or something like that. Clouds aren't helping either. With dew points high and the spread low the cloud bases are surely going to be less than 2k until nearly noon. Then you have the NASCAR race. TFR will surely be in effect and the traffic will be much heavier than normal. 

As you can see, we have a number of things lining up agaist us. I don't think it's smart to put yourself in a position where bad things can happen when you do not need to do so. I'm sure we could make it work, but It's just not worth it for a recreational flight. It may all be a moot point because right now the Skylane is down for a prop spinner back plate. So it may not be flyable by Saturday anyway. I guess it'll just have to be another day.